Top mining company official was in line for DNR post, records confirm

Mining lobbyist Bob Seitz is shown testifying in 2013 on the proposed mining bill at the Capitol in Madison. Gov. Scott Walker’s administration considered offering Seitz a top position in the Depatment of Natural Resources but backed off because of a federal law barring conflicts of interest. Credit: Mark Hoffman

Gov. Scott Walker's administration considered giving a top natural resources position this year to a lobbyist for a company proposing a massive iron mine, but backed off because of a federal law barring conflicts of interest.

Records show that Walker's staff was considering Gogebic Taconite lobbyist and spokesman Bob Seitz for the post of deputy secretary of the Department of Natural Resources. He was being considered for the post just before Gogebic announced it was closing its office in northern Wisconsin and stepping away from a proposed $1.5 billion iron ore mine in Ashland and Iron counties.

Seitz ended up getting a different appointment from Walker, with the Public Service Commission.

The DNR is the state's chief environmental enforcement agency and was overseeing early stages of work on Gogebic's proposal for the mine, which would have operated for decades over a 4-mile-long area.

The consideration of Seitz came as Walker was ramping up his likely run for the presidency.

The company, which successfully lobbied for changes in state iron mining laws, funneled $700,000 to Wisconsin Club for Growth. The group helped Walker and Republicans survive recall elections in 2011 and 2012 and helped ensure the Senate had the votes to pass a bill easing mining regulations.

Seitz, a Madison lobbyist, had been the public face of Gogebic as the company pushed for changes in mining laws, and afterward, as field work began before the company formally applied for a mining permit.

From the start, the project drew sharp opposition from environmentalists and Wisconsin's Indian tribes, who expressed worries that a mine would harm water quality in the Bad River watershed, a tributary of Lake Superior that flows through tribal lands of the Bad River band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

In a sign it was all but abandoning the project, Gogebic announced on Feb. 27 that the company was closing its office in Hurley. The company said field work revealed far more wetlands than previously known, but also expressed concern that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency might try to block the project as the EPA said it might do with a proposed copper and gold mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay watershed.

Wetlands are a dominant feature around Gogebic's site. Despite environmental regulations eased by the Legislature for iron mining, Gogebic still would have been required under state and federal law to try to avoid as many of the wetlands as possible.

Seitz's move from Gogebic to the DNR had been rumored since early February, but aides to Walker declined to say whether he was being considered for the job.

Emails and other documents recently released to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel under the state's open records law confirmed for the first time that Walker's office was considering Seitz for the post.

In a Jan. 30 email to the state Department of Justice, Walker's appointments adviser at the time, Eric Esser, sought a background check of Seitz. No other candidate for that job was named, and Esser asked the Department of Justice to speed the background check for Seitz and three people being considered for other positions.

Seitz declined to comment on Monday. On Feb. 16, he was named executive assistant to incoming Public Service Chairwoman Ellen Nowak. The commission regulates public utilities, and Seitz was until recently a lobbyist for utility investors.

Seitz was being eyed to replace Deputy Secretary Matt Moroney, who left the DNR to join the governor's office. On March 19, Walker announced that Kurt Thiede, a longtime DNR employee, would take over the No. 2 position.

In an email Monday, Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said:

"It came to our attention as we were considering Bob Seitz for several administration positions that there could be a potential conflict. There is an EPA law that prohibits individuals who have worked for a company that is applying for or has received air and/or water permits from working within the chain of command for the governing body of those permits for two years."

DNR spokesman Bill Cosh declined to comment.

"I knew there was going to be a problem with Seitz," said George Meyer, executive director of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation and a former DNR secretary.

"It would have been a terrible precedent to have a former representative of a mining company appointed to the DNR with chain of command oversight of the mine.

Gogebic burst into Wisconsin politics in 2011, soon after Walker was elected. After initially saying it was satisfied with state mining laws, the company had a change of heart and demanded major changes in iron mining regulations.

The demands drew quick support from Walker, Republican lawmakers and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business group.

The disclosure was made last year in response to a lawsuit Wisconsin Club for Growth brought challenging an investigation into its fundraising and spending.

Prosecutors have been looking into the ties between the governor's campaign and political groups. No one has been charged, and their probe has been stalled for more than a year because of a judge's ruling finding the activities being investigated were not illegal. The state Supreme Court is expected to decide this year whether to end the investigation for good or allow it to be restarted.

"Because Wisconsin Club for Growth's fundraising and expenditures were being coordinated with Scott Walker's agents at the time of Gogebic's donation, there is certainly an appearance of corruption in light of the resulting legislation from which it benefited," prosecutors claimed in appeals court documents.

About Patrick Marley

Patrick Marley covers state government and state politics. He is the author, with Journal Sentinel reporter Jason Stein, of "More Than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions and the Fight for Wisconsin.”